Memorial Roger Delannay Tournai

The Parc Fort Rouge contains a memorial to Roger Delannay, the first Belgian pilot who died on May 10, 1940.

At dawn of the first day of the war, the Fiats CR-42 flew from the 3 / II / 2 to the airport in Brustem. Their mission was to protect the airfield. They were lieutenant pilot Charles Goffin, 1st sergeant pilot Marcel Sans and 1st sergeant pilot Roger Delannay.
Roger Delannay (° January 5, 1916 - Tournai) noticed a formation of German bombers escorted by Messerschmitts. Above Melveren-St.-Truiden an unequal battle broke out between the two Fiats and the Bf 109s. Roger's plane was shot down. He was hurt but still managed to squeeze out of his plane and open his parachute. During his painful descent to the ground, he was hit several times by bullets fired from the ground. He was taken away but died in the hospital of Sint-Truiden the same day.
Nicknamed Le pilote de la tempête because he liked to take off in the worst weather, Delannay was the man who also designed the 9th and 11th Observation Molds insignia of the 1st Aviation Regiment after being fitted with the Renard R-31: the profile of the Sioux Indian head on a blue or red field. It is this license plate that is still painted on the C-130 Hercules of the 15th Wing in Melsbroek.
Roger Delannay was temporarily laid to rest in Sint-Truiden, but is buried today in the urban cemetery of his hometown.

Source: Aviation History

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